The champions continued their march towards yet another crown by beating Stabaek 2-0 last week. They left it late but totally deserved their success, dominating the contest. A win here combined with an Odd defeat could potentially secure them the title unofficially. Rosenborg have been superb at home all season, winning 11/11 contests, scoring 34 and conceding just 7 goals in the process, which are remarkable stats. The Trondheim club may well have an eye on the upcoming midweek cup quarter final against Tromso, so might field a weakened team here. However, even a second string Rosenborg should easily beat Start. RBK are on a massive -2.75 asian handicap, which is by far the biggest seen this season in the Tippeligaen.

Start preview

It’s now 38 games and counting for Start since they last won a Tippeligaen game. If they managed to end that run here then it would be one of the biggest shocks ever seen in this league. They are as big as 28/1 to pick up all three points, but they might as well be 28,000-1 because there’s no way in hell they are even going to go close here! Having said that, this will be like a cup final for Start. They have little left to play for now this season apart from pride and of course to try and end their horrible winless streak. I’m sure the players will be giving it absolutely everything and throw the kitchen sink at RBK. They performed ok against the champions earlier in the season, only losing 0-2 thanks to a couple of late goals. It’d be a surprise if they got close here but they should at least try hard.

Conclusion & betting analysis

Rosenborg will win the game, the question is by how many? The hosts are in between a -2.5 and -2.75 handicap which means they need to win by at least three clear goals for you to win, should you back them to prevail. This has every chance of covering, the hosts could run riot if they are in the mood. However, my preferred bet is over 3.75 goals. Maybe there’s half a chance Rosenborg could get slack, after all they did against Lillestrom not so long ago. Maybe towards the end they’ll let their guard down and gift Start a consolation goal. I don’t actually think the visitors will score in all likelihood, but when comparing the two potential bets it’s the over I prefer because there is more than one team that could potentially contribute. I would say 4-0 or 5-0 is the most probable outcome and it’s just a question of how ruthless Rosenborg want to be.